40C 



NEW ENGT>AND FARMER. 



Sept. 



through the chickery, he was set upon by a I 

 large game rooster of the Tartar breed, and so 

 severely spurred and billed as to endanger his 

 life. Many and deep were the gashes in his ten- 

 der flesh, and the injury would have been great- 

 er, had not a servant of the family rescued him. 

 Again, while a hen of the same strain was roam- 

 ing through a fieh!, one of her young was pounced 

 upon by a large hawk. The mother liravely at- 

 tacked this "fell destroyer of all poultry," and 

 so disabled him as to make his capture easy. 

 Media, Jahj 8, 1859. ' T. 



BUSINESS AND CROPS IN RYEGATE, VT. 



I never knew such a busy time in this part of 

 the country before. Every thing and every body 

 has been busy ; first the elements, rain, wind and 

 jack-frost. The 1 itter was round, at least, on the 

 morning of the 5th inst. It did no injury, how- 

 ever, except on very low land ; some potatoes 

 and beans were killed to the ground in ibis vi- 

 cinity. Farmers, mechanics, merchants and day- 

 laborers have been very busy. Nearly a dozen 

 large barns have been built in this immediate 

 icinity, within six or eight months ; several of: 

 them are very large and commodious, and built [ 

 with every modern improvement ; one improve- j 

 ment is a cupola with ventilator ; another is sev- 

 eral steam chimneys placed near the centre of the 

 hay mow, made of plank, bored full of holes. 



Grass and grain look promising, except corn. 

 Much of our best corn land in the Connecticut 

 valley, and all low lands was planted, and the 

 corn injured, but that on the l)ack high lands 

 escaped the hard June frost, and looks well. 

 Apples are not plenty ; wild fruit is very plenty ; 

 the bees are having a glorious time on the rasp- 

 berry blossoms, and white clover. 



T. P. Bayley. 



South Byegate, Vt., July 12, 185U. 



WHITE specks in BUTTER. 

 Next time you churn, take one of those verita- 

 ble specks (if you find any,) and apply it to the 

 tip of the tongue, and if by the aid of taste, you 

 can possibly discover what the critter is, and 

 conclude that he is a white speck of cheese curd 

 formed in the bottom of a neglected pot of cream, 

 I guess you catch him. 



Now for the remedy. Go a visiting to-day, and 

 churn to-morrow. 



Yours, in search of hidden things, 



Mrs. S. Pierce. 

 South Londonderry, Vt., 1859. 



Remarks. — We trust that by this time, the 

 grand discovery as to what causes white specks 

 in butter has been made, and that we shall find 

 none of them in our next winter's stock. 



HENS, AND hens' HUSBANDS. 

 I observe in your June number a note from 

 Mr. Geo. Vining, in which he recommends a 

 mixed breed of poultry as the best. I partly agree 

 with him in this respect, but take exception to 

 another recommendation, viz., "to keep a small 

 rooster, or none at all." Now I consider him a 

 very unfeeling man to deprive the poor hens of 

 their natural protector, for they like to hear his 



voice when he crows, and when he answers their 

 cackling. It would be too bad to keep poultry in 

 that unnatural way. I have also heard it stated 

 that hens do not lay so well when kept in that 

 way. There is a breed of fowls in this city called 

 the Black Hamburg, which comes up to the mark 

 of a good article as near as any breed I know. 

 The hens commence to lay about December 1st, 

 and continue to lay almost every day till moult- 

 ing time, say September 2()th. They are nearly 

 as large as the Dorking, and of much the same 

 shape. They do not want to set, have large rose 

 combs which incline gently to one side, are of a 

 beautiful glossy black, and their flesh is very 

 white and juicy. I prefer them to any fancy breed 

 yet introduced to this country. Hoping that 

 your friend will not continue his absurd doctrine 

 of celibacy, 



I remain your constant Reader. 



Halifax, JV. S., 1859. 



HA.BITS OP THE SHAD. 



The habits of our fish have been but very littl 

 attended to in this country. Our scientific men, 

 it is true, have been very precise in their accurate 

 classification, and in the use of their ponderous no- 

 menclature — they have described our fishes even 

 10 the shape of a scale or the number of thorns 

 in the dorsal fin, but they have not condescende ^ 

 to note their habits, their food, their length of life 

 with all such particulars as would interest com- 

 mon readers, and be of use to mankind. 



No fish is more valued or more valuable than 

 the shad ; yet but few of its habits of life are 

 known. The books are silent, and angling gives 

 no information. It was for a long time, a com- 

 monly r'eceived opinion that the shad spent the 

 winter in some ])art of the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 then as spring advanced and the snow ceased run- 

 ning, came along the coast and entered the riv- 

 ers in succession. If this were Irue, there would 

 be no uniformity, year after year, in the run of 

 shad in each river. The very distinct varieties 

 would all become intermingled. But each river 

 has its own variety. Those of Connecticut River 

 have long been known as possessing superior size 

 and flavor to any others. The variety that seeks 

 the Hudson as a spawning ground is easily dis- 

 tinguished from ours. This fact of the distinct- 

 ness of the varieties in each river tends to the 

 belief that shad go no further than the mouth of 

 the streams in which they are hatched. 



The habits of the shad are unlike those of oth- 

 er fish. As soon as the snow water has ceased 

 running, they press up the river as far as they 

 can reach, in order to deposit their spawn. In 

 following this instinct, they never stop for refresh- 

 ment or food. Who ever found anything in the 

 maw or stomach of a shad that would indicate 

 the nature of its food ? Who ever knew them to 

 bite at a baited hook ? They do not feed from 

 the time they enter the stream until they sink 

 down thin and exhausted into the deep places at 

 the mouth. For this purpose of nature the shad 

 has been preparing itself during the quiet luxu- 

 ries of a winter, and has become fattened for the 

 use of man, or, if it escape his net, for the repro- 

 duction of its species. The shad lives but a sin- 

 gle year. It is hatched in the early summer — de- 

 scends the streams as soon as large enough- 



